It's your code. Protect it with TI's new embedded processors.

Secure boot and multi-layer encryption on DSPs and DSP + ARM® processors help stop software piracy to protect your overall investment

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Texas Instruments Incorporated

Jun 13, 2011, 09:00 ET

DALLAS, June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) is offering its customers added protection against unauthorized reading of intellectual property (IP) and sensitive data in its TMS320C6748 digital signal processors (DSPs) and OMAP-L138 DSP + ARM® processors. These processors are part of the TI's C6000™ DSP and C6-Integra™ DSP + ARM product platforms. The two areas of protection include:

Secure boot capability prevents external entities from modifying customer-developed algorithms to stop unauthorized users from misusing the customer's system and its operation by preventing insertion of malware, reverse engineering and system cloning.
Multi-layer encryption offers the ability to upgrade boot and application software code remotely on flash memory while allowing the boot sequence to remain secure. Multi-layer encryption is enabled when a device-specific cipher key, known only to the device, is used to protect customer encryption keys. When an update is needed, the customer creates a new encrypted image using its encryption keys. Then the device can acquire the image wirelessly and overwrite the existing code.

Examples of applications that would benefit from the secure boot and secure field upgrade feature include medical patient monitors that utilize proprietary, certified algorithms and software-defined radios (SDRs) to ensure communication isn't compromised if the radios fall into the wrong hands.

"Software is a key differentiator for companies to be competitive in their markets; however, it is also their leading cost factor," said Joy Ji, OMAP-L1x DSP + ARM product marketing manager, TI. "TI's newly enhanced processors enable customers to protect those investments, which is why TI is integrating secure boot on our industry-leading processors. This hardware-based security system allows our customers more robust IP protection than typical software-based solutions."

For applications requiring manufacturing facilities that support secure-boot technology, Logic PD, a member of TI's Elite Design House Network, provides design services, turnkey design through manufacturing and manufacturing facilities that support the secure-boot technology implementation at its U.S.-based, ITAR- and ISO 13485-compliant manufacturing sites.

TI also offers a wide variety of complementary power management solutions to ease the power supply design and maximize power savings in C6748 DSPs and OMAP-L138 DSP + ARM processors.

C6748 DSP and OMAP-L138 DSP + ARM processor features and benefits

	Feature	Benefit
	Robust hardware-based security: Secure boot with standalone flashing utilities Multi-layer encryption support	Enables storage of IP and image in encrypted form to external non-volatile memory (e.g. NAND and NOR flash) Allows OMAP-L138 DSP + ARM to run code on the DSP, isolated from general purpose applications running on the ARM, using hardware firewalls to create isolated regions within the device during the boot process Enables boot and application code protection and designation of other encryption keys to be used to decrypt boot modules
	TI's C6000 DSP performance: Both processors integrate the industry's lowest cost and lowest power floating-/fixed-point C6000 DSPs	Enables real-time system performance with floating-point operations for high-precision and wide dynamic range and fixed-point operations for even higher performance
	Differentiated integration: The OMAP-L138 DSP + ARM processor integrates a low-power ARM9™ core with the C6748 DSP for dual processing capabilities	Offers flexibility to add intuitive human machine interfaces, touch screens or networking capabilities Allows implementation of high-level system control with operating systems (Linux® and Windows® Embedded CE)
	Power options: C6748 DSP with 420mW total power and 11 mW in sleep mode in common use cases OMAP-L138 DSP + ARM processor with 480mW total power and 11mW in sleep mode	Allows developers to implement portable, power efficient applications with signal processing capabilities
	Integrated peripherals: Universal parallel port(uPP), Ethernet MAC (EMAC), serial ATA (SATA), multimedia card/secure digital (MMC/SD), high-speed USB 2.0/1.1, video port interface and LCD controller	uPP allows high-speed connections to data converters, FPGAs or other processors EMAC, SATA and MMC/SD enables desktop, network or portable connectivity or storage LCD controller provides ability to add user interface and video port interface allows for video displays at video graphics array resolutions in product enhancement

Pricing and availability

The secure boot, multi-level encrypted C6748 DSPs and OMAP-L138 DSP + ARM processors are sampling today at 375MHz and 456MHz with industrial temperature ranges available. Production pricing starts at $18 per 1,000 units (1ku) for the C6748 DSP and $21.40 per 1ku for the OMAP-L138 DSP + ARM processor. TI also offers secure-boot-enabled devices in the C5000™ ultra-low-power DSP platform and plans to introduce future software-compatible devices with varying levels of security in additional DSP, DSP + ARM and ARM-only platforms.

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C6000, C6-Integra and C5000 processors are trademarks of Texas Instruments. All other trademarks and registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

SOURCE Texas Instruments Incorporated